THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 243 



vessel was whaling in the vicinity of the Society 

 Islands, when one of these animals, having grazed 

 its back in passing beneath the vessel's keel, became 

 enraged, and after swimming to some distance, sud- 

 denly turned, and rushed with amazing force against 

 the ship. The helmsman vainly endeavoured to 

 avoid the blow, and the animal, repeating the attack, 

 stove in the ship's bows, when she speedily filled 

 and went down, barely allowing the hands on board 

 time to take to the boat. Those who were out in 

 pursuit, seeing, to their astonishment, their vessel 

 sink without any apparent cause, hastened to the 

 spot, and the whole crew found themselves in open 

 boats, tliree thousand miles from the coast of Chili, 

 to which they determined to proceed, but where 

 three or four only arrived, after painful and pro- 

 tracted sufferinsrs. 



The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocejjJmlus) attains 

 a greater length than the Greenland Whale, from 

 which it is at once distinguished by the remarkable 

 form of the head. As in the latter, the head occu- 

 pies about one-third of the entire length, but it 

 is of the same thickness throughout, appearing as 

 if it had been suddenly cut off at the muzzle; so 

 that the head bears no small resemblance to a huge 

 box. There is no whalebone ; but the lower jaw, 

 which is narrow, and fits into the upper, is armed 

 with a series of sharp teeth, which are received into 

 hollows in the upper gums. The blow-hole is placed 

 at the front angle of the head ; the eye is just above 

 the inner corner of the mouth, and over this, where 

 the head joins the body, there is a hunch, called the 



